XY of Dude Where’s My Data?

This NFT is a part of a bigger artwork. To see the full artwork, visit artist erwinlaiho’s OBJKT.com-profile. If OBJKT is no longer accessible, you can check the last of 4 NFTs minted by tz1g5GtyBrzjFdtsh6C8cKeXw6wRG5BeyWME on Monday 23rd of May 2022. In the event, that IPFS no longer hosts the metadata of that 4th “master” NFT, check the instructions below to re-create it using the 3 preceding NFTs. ________ This multipart digital artwork is about the location and storage of data. It consists of 4 NFTs that function together as an ‘NFT-installation’: a “master” 3D-model + 3 on-chain blueprints of the 3D-model that are also made as artworks in their own right. A row of off-white blocks on a sand color ground represents The Utah Data Center (UDC) run by the National Security Agency (NSA). The model is made based on Google Earth imagery and the few photos that exist of this remote group of buildings – its likely that it is the worlds biggest data storage facility. The Minecraft-like voxel graphics continue the playfulness of the title and form what is essentially a 3-dimensional treasure map that can ironically lead you back to your own data. Under the tiny-looking blocks depicting an over 1 million sq. ft. (93 000 m2) data center, there are its precise latitude and longitude. In terms of the 3 NFTs backing up this data, the latitude is visible on the XZ-plane and longitude on the YZ-plane. Each of the 3 on-chain NFTs is a monochrome 24x24 pixel blueprint of a different side of the artwork. In the blueprints, different tones of grey represent different depths (from black in the front to white in the back). By combining the blueprints, you can re-create the full 3D-model. They thereby act as a 3-part backup of the “master” artwork and are forever stored decentrally in the Tezos-blockchain. This storage format was chosen for its unmatched resistance to censorship & data loss. It’s completely reasonable for you to doubt that your data is in Utah because the precise mission of this remote facility is classified. However, in a 2013 discussion on PBS about whether the US government collects Americans’ phone calls and data, former NSA Technical Leader William Binney said: “That’s why they had to build Bluffdale, that facility in Utah, with that massive amount of storage that could store all of these recordings and all of the data being passed along fiberoptic networks of the world. You could store roughly 100 years of the worlds’ communications there.”